LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Gov. Mike Beebe on Wednesday appointed a former aide and lobbyist for the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce to the state commission that oversees and regulates hunting and fishing.

Beebe named Andrew Parker, the chamber's director of governmental affairs, to a seven-year term on the state Game and Fish Commission. Parker, 37, replaces Commissioner Ty Patterson on the seven-member panel. Parker spent three years as Beebe's liaison to the Game and Fish Commission as well as 13 other state agencies, boards and commissions. He's also a former attorney for the state Oil and Gas Commission.

While Parker will be the youngest member of the commission, Beebe touted him as someone who has the same passion for hunting, fishing and the outdoors as the panel's other six members. Beebe ribbed his former staffer about his hunting ability, recounting a dove hunting trip in which the two emptied five boxes of shells but only killed four birds.

"In addition to hunting and fishing, he understands conservation. He understands the responsibility that we have been given that phrase the Natural State and uphold the opportunity to stay that way and be enhanced for the rest of our lifetime," Beebe said at a news conference at the Witt Stephens Central Arkansas Nature Center in downtown Little Rock.

Parker said he hoped to use his time on the commission to promote outdoor activities to the state's youth.

"Hunting and fishing aren't just recreational sports," he said. "They're something more than that and something that kids all across Arkansas, no matter where they live, should have the opportunity to experience."

Patterson was appointed the commissioner to fill out the remaining term of Vice Chairman Rick Watkins, who resigned after a misdemeanor arrest for allegedly firing a gun into the ground while drunk. Watkins later pleaded guilty to one count of public intoxication and was fined $250, and had another charge of disorderly conduct dropped.

The commission is set up as an independent government agency and is funded primarily by a 1/8th cent sales tax for conservation and revenue from hunting and fishing licenses.